


4. Running out of time

by Anything00but



Series: Whumptober 2020 [4]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Hale Fire (Teen Wolf), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, BAMF Stiles, Child Stiles Stilinski, Death, Emotional Hurt, Fire, Good Peter Hale, Hurt, Implied Relationships, M/M, Magical Stiles Stilinski, Mates, Peter Has Feelings, Protectiveness, Spark Stiles Stilinski, The Hale Family, Time Travel, Whumptober 2020, mention of mates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:15:59
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26808751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anything00but/pseuds/Anything00but
Summary: For once in his life Peter doesn’t know what to do. He knows how the situation looks. There is little to none chance for them to get out. Supernatural can’t pass the line of wolfsbane and the humans would die the second they step outside if they can get the door open. If they stay here they will all burn alive or suffocate from the smoke or burn alive.
Relationships: Peter Hale/Stiles Stilinski
Series: Whumptober 2020 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1947130
Comments: 10
Kudos: 432
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	4. Running out of time

caged/buried alive/ **collapsed building**

  
  


Peter wakes up to a smell of smoke. It is alarming in itself but to get a scent so strong inside the house is the factor that snaps him awake in a matter of seconds. He can hear the fire crackling somewhere downstairs. He can see the smoke draining into his room through the little gap between the door and floor.

He rushes out of his room only to find the whole hallway full of smoke. Coughing he runs yelling for everyone to wake up. Noises start to come from the rooms all around him as the pack around him wakes up. He needs to act fast if he wants to save everyone.

Small coughs can be heard from the children's rooms. Cries of fear soon follow as the little ones wake up to smell the smoke and hear the fire. Peter can hear his little sister and her husband hush their youngest child before she opens the bedroom door. She gives Peter a nod as she moves to the room next to hers to gather the children together.

“Talia!” Peter rushes in his sister’s bedroom to find her and her husband Joseph already awake.

“We need to gather the little ones”, Talia says as she pulls her nightgown fully on, “Get them out of the house as fast as you can.”

Joseph is trying the phone. The confused look on his face soon turns to horror as he puts the phone down. Peter knows what that look means. They have been cut out of the phone line. That should be impossible, Peter himself has made sure of it that the phone line won’t die from a little accident.

This is no accident. This is an arson and the longer they take the more at unease Peter feels about the whole situation. He has a feeling that the fire hasn’t been burning for that long, he would have woken up earlier if it had. It must be chemically or magically improved so it would eat faster the house’s structure.

The fire has been started with a purpose. And Peter fears the acknowledgement of who started it. When you grow up as a werewolf, one of the most hunted supernatural creatures you learn to survive. You learn to survive the hunters and exterminate the threats to the pack.

“Come one darlings”, Peter’s younger sister ushers the children down the stairs.

“Where’s Derek?” Talia asks as she pushes Cora after her aunt to join her and the rest of the children.

“He isn’t in his room?” Peter asks, turning towards Derek’s room.

“No. I can’t find him”, Talia stresses hugging herself as she paces and keeps eyes Derek’s room and the stairs.

“We need to get out of here now. We will find him. He can’t be in the house, he would be with us already. He must be outside or something”, Peter promises as he pushes Talia towards the stairs.

Peter hears the little ones coughing too and whining is fear. He can feel the terror through the bonds. The little ones are terrified and Peter can’t blame them. They need to get out of the house as fast as possible. The heat is making Peter sweat as he rushes from room to room to check that they got everyone and no one is left behind.

“The door won’t open!” Their little sister yells from downstairs her voice getting drowned in her coughing the more she inhales the smoke.

Peter and Talia share a look, saying that can’t be true. Peter rushes past Talia to try the door. The fire burns hotly in the living room and spreads quickly to other rooms. The whole living room is gone as Peter spares it a quick glance as he flies past it. The roof is starting to fall apart on that part of the house. They don’t have much time.

“Get back!” Peter yells as he reaches the door seeing the flames licking it already.

His little sister herds the children back, away from the fire and it’s heat. Peter watches as they flee past him to Talia who is standing by the stairs. She is looking at the destruction of her home, of her pack’s home. The place where she grew up and raised her own children.

Peter throws himself against the door ignoring the hot flames that lick his arm. He can’t afford to hesitate. The flames burn his hand and the side of his face but he can’t stop trying. He needs to get his pack out. He can feel the skin burn and blister and he can feel his body trying to heal itself.

The door won’t budge. There is no reason to panic yet. As the left hand of the Hale pack Peter knows how to manage situations that need collectiviness and quick thinking. He quickly runs in his head all the exits in the house. The back door is a no go, the flames would burn anyone who gets too close, and the children would suffer the most. To get to it would mean going through the living room and that is a no go.

The windows are the next option to get out quickly. Peter moves before the closest window and pulls it open. The window opens without a hitch but he can’t put his hand out of it to try to get out. There is an invisible field holding him in and he can’t break it.

Then it hits him.

Wolfsbane.

Wolfsbane has been spread outside the house, just close enough to the house so no one can get out. Even if they could have opened the door they wouldn’t have been able to exit the house. No supernatural at least. The humans could get out at least Peter thinks as he turns around to tell the rest of the pack.

A bullet goes past his head and hits the wall behind him. 

He surges down. There goes the next exit. Even if they could push the humans of the pack out by using the windows they would be shot by the hunters waiting outside. He didn’t think about that in his hurry to save his family. He totally forgot the hunters would of course be waiting for anyone who got through the wolfsbane line.

“Everyone get away from the windows!” Peter yells over the fire crackling now with more force.

“Can’t we get out?” Little Cora asks, pressing her tiny body against Peter’s leg shaking in fear.

Peter looks at the little girl. Her eyes wet with tears that are streaming down her face. The tears leave behind lines as they fall down her face and washes away the ash. Her long brown hair clinging to her head as she sweats due to the heat. She looks miserable. Peter knows she will look worse if he can’t get her out.

“I will get you out”, Peter promises picking her up, “Have I ever lied to you?”

“No”, Cora shakes her head and wraps her tiny arms around Peter’s neck as Peter lifts her up.

“Everyone down to the tunnel”, Talia commands as she helps their sister and Joseph to get the children down to the basement.

“You go”, Peter says to Cora as he gives her to Joseph, “I will come right behind you.”

Peter looks around the Hale house burning up. The flames swallowing the house and the upper floor gives in. Peter jumps backwards as the supportive beam falls down next to him and a few of the beaming red firebrands touch his skin.

Peter follows his pack to the basement after he closes the heavy metal door to give them more time to escape. The basement is cooler than the burning ground floor and Peter sighs relieved only to frown when he sees that the pack is still there.

Fifteen people are standing at the end of the stairs and Peter pushes through them. 

What is taking so long?

“It’s blocked”, Talia cries as she tries to push past the wolfsbane line.

That is the moment terror takes over Peter. This was the last exit they could use. There is nowhere else to go as the house is collapsing around them as the fire eats the foundations. He looks around the faces of his family, all covered in sweat and dirt. Clothes dirty and black from the ash.

The little ones are coughing more and more by the minute as they breath in the smoke and toxics from the fire. It’s only a matter of time until the door gives to the flames and starts to suffocate them. Peter is having a mental breakdown when Talia pulls him aside. Or as aside you can get one in a basement full of people.

“Peter-” Talia whispers as their sister tries to calm down the crying children.

“No”, Peter shakes his head knowing immediately what his alpha wants to do.

“This will only prolong their suffering. The least we can do for them is to get them a quick death”, Talia whispers looking at the children whose eyes are glistening with tears, “They will either burn alive or they will suffocate. We can give them a quick death- one last mercy.”

“We can try to get the humans out!” Peter argues outraged by Talia’s suggestion of what they should do next.

“There are six humans among us. All defenseless. They don’t stand a chance out there against the hunters even if they manage to get out somehow.”

Peter knows it. Of course he does. There are only two little ones that are human and Peter’s and Talia’s little sister with her husband and two of their four children. None of them know how to fight. None of them has even ever seen a hunter. Only heard stories being told about them. They are like the boogeyman for the humans.

“I-”, Peter doesn’t know what to do.

For once in his life he doesn’t know what to do. He knows how the situation looks. There is little to none chance for them to get out. Supernatural can’t pass the line of wolfsbane and the humans would die the second they step outside if they can get the door open. If they stay here they will all burn alive or suffocate from the smoke and then burn. At least they would be unconscious for it.

Peter can feel how his face and arm tries to knit itself back together. He doesn’t know how bad the burns are but they hurt like hell if it’s anything to go by. He tries to ignore the pain as best as he can.

It’s only minutes later when the smoke starts filling the room. The fire can be seen licking the sides of the door. It is minutes away from filling the room and burning them all alive. He watches helplessly as the pack members inhale the smoke and second by second they all start to close their eyes. 

The fire crackling is loud enough to cover their weakening heartbeats and for that Peter is grateful.

Peter knows what they must do. With a tearing look he gives Talia a nod. They move systematically around the already drowsy children and cleanly snaps their necks. Peter can feel the pack bonds breaking one by one as the little ones die. It makes his wolf howl in sorrow in his head. He doesn’t have time to mourn the lost ones.

His little sister is laying there. Holding her youngest child, only six months old in her arms as she lays there eyes closed. Peter can hear her slow heartbeat and knows it’s not far that it will stop forever. He makes it quick and clean. The baby is already dead in her arms, they were too late.

A coughing fit takes over Peter as he breathes the smoke. He can feel himself getting more and more dizzy. It would not be too long for him to join the rest of his pack.

It leaves Talia, Joseph, Cora and Peter. Cora is crying and fighting her mother. Peter pulls Cora to him, rocking as he tries to calm down the crying pup. She feels just as strongly the dying pack bonds as any of them. The only difference is that she doesn’t know what it means and what to do with the information.

The fire is pushing through the door and burning the stairs. The roof creaks worriedly as Peter pushes Cora behind him. Not a moment too late as the upper floors collapse in. Talia and Joseph get swallowed in the burning wood that collapses over them. The scent of burning flesh is making Peter sick. It’s his sister burning down there and he can’t do anything to help her.

“Stay back”, Peter yells over the fire as Cora clings to him.

Peter pushes Cora against the back wall, covering her tiny body with his own taking in all the heat. The flames burn his back in blisters but he won’t budge. He will protect Cora. He can feel how Talia finally dies under the fire. The powerful snap of the pack bond with the alpha breaking making Peter cry finally.

He feels the pack bond only to Cora. There is no Derek’s bond, no Laura’s bond. The last remaining Hales. He has no idea what happened to those two but he is sure it was nothing good. He doesn’t know how the hunters knew about the exit in the basement but he swears if he lives through this he will find out.

The alpha power comes to him. And that confirms his doubt that Derek and Laura are dead since the spark should go to one of them. Cora is too young to carry the spark so it went to the only other person available still carrying Hale blood, Peter.

The heat is starting to turn unbearable and he can’t protect Cora from it much longer. The little girl cries out in pain as the heat starts to turn unbearable even for her, protected between Peter and the cool cement wall.

“Come one!” A voice yells from the tunnels opening.

Peter snaps his head towards the voice seeing a boy around Cora’s age standing there. He has broken the line of wolfsbane and the door that was blocked just moments ago. Peter pushes up from the ground and rushes towards the opening and bushes Cora out first. He grabs the boy and makes a run for it through the tunnel. He doesn’t know yet who the boy is but he doesn’t care at the moment. He saved them and he needs to get him away from the fire.

Peter doesn’t stop running. He doesn’t look back at the burning basement and his family turning to ashes there. He keeps running even after he gets out of the tunnel, still carrying the two children in his arms. He doesn’t care about the pain on his arms and back as the skin pulls on the weight of the children. Peter is holding the last member of his family in his arms and he will not let anything happen to Cora.

Peter stops when the tunnel is far behind him. He lets the children fall on the forest floor as he falls to his knees. His head is spinning and he feels fuzzy as he breathes in the clear air. The pain makes the slight wind feel agonizing on his skin. He tries to listen if anyone is following them and if he needs to fight for their lives. 

He is ready to fight, he doesn’t care if he can’t pull it through. He doesn’t care he isn’t fine enough the fight as he coughs and coughs. He ignores his weak body and dizzy head as he gets up slowly, ready to attack if needed. Peter needs Cora to survive at least. He couldn’t save his family but he is sure as hell he will defend his last living family.

“I took care of the hunters”, The boy says as he stares at Peter and his clawed hands like he is seeing something fascinating.

Peter falls back to his knees relieved, his strength leaving him at once. He can’t hear anyone other than the three of them so the boy must be talking the truth- whatever that holds in. Little Cora crying in his arms holding her burned arms for Peter to see. Peter nods weakly as he wipes his hands on his burned pants ready to pull away Cora’s pain.

Peter takes a deep breath pushing his own physical and mental pain aside, he starts to pull Cora’s pain to himself.

“Stop that!” The little boy commands suddenly angrily, “You will kill yourself if you do that.”

The boy bushes Peter’s hands away from Cora and places his own hands there. The boy’s hands glow white for a second and Cora’s hands are no longer burned. The tears are still rolling down her face though. Cora pulls her hands away from the boy as fast as she can in fear. She has never seen anyone do that before, and quite frankly neither has Peter. When the boy turns to Peter he can see the boy better for the first time in the moonlight.

“Who are you?” Peter asks as Cora moves behind him seeking safety, wrapping her hands around Peter’s neck.

Peter hisses when the girl makes contact with his burned skin but doesn’t push her away.

“I’m Stiles”, The boy sighs placing a hand on Peter's burned cheek.

Peter can feel the skin knit itself back together. He closes his eyes, something in him saying he can trust this little boy calling himself Stiles. He listens to the boy’s heart beat finding it steady and strong. The boy seems to be telling the truth as Peter can feel himself fall more closer to the comforting edge of unconsciousness.

"This might be hard to believe but I come from the future", Stiles continues more unsure losing his earlier confidence, "and I am a spark."

Peter's eyes fly open. He knows about sparks, he knows that they hold pure magic in them. And they can field it any way they want. And this little boy claims to be one. Peter flashes his eyes outraged but the boy doesn’t seem faced by this as he keeps rubbing Peter’s cheek. The skin there isn’t healed completely but it isn’t hurting as badly as a second ago.

"And most importantly I am your mate”, Stiles whispers as he flashes his eyes white.


End file.
